The fans at Yankee Stadium cheered most robustly Monday for a man who repeatedly played us all for fools. And yet, on a most bizarre opening day, you almost could not blame them for showing mercy to Alex Rodriguez.

On a stage built for stars, A-Rod still shines. He lied and cheated and sued his own union, and ruined his legacy with his decisions. He is infamous, and the old Martin Short line from “Three Amigos” really does apply: Infamous means more than famous. Who else on the Yankees commands attention from the masses anymore?

Masahiro Tanaka does, but now it is largely for the cloud of doom above him. He lasted only four innings, allowing five runs in a 6-1 loss to the Toronto Blue Jays and doing nothing to show that he can still be an All-Star with a damaged elbow. Manager Joe Girardi bristled at the first pregame question, which was about Tanaka’s diminished velocity, and his day got worse from there.

Brett Gardner, the only homegrown Yankee with a championship ring, hit a homer for the team’s only run. The Yankees had just two other hits, including Rodriguez’s hard single to the gap in right-center to lead off the fifth inning. His teammates could not advance him.

Rodriguez walked his first time up, leading off the third. By then the Yankees were down by 5-0 and had not put a runner on base. They did not advance Rodriguez that time, either. He flied out in the seventh and was on deck when the game ended.

With a better script, Rodriguez would have gotten a chance to extend the game or to end it, as he did in the Yankees’ playoff runs in 2010 and 2011. Rodriguez struck out to finish those seasons — but he has hit many big homers for the franchise, too.

Only five players have ever hit more homers for the Yankees: Ruth, Mantle, Gehrig, DiMaggio, Berra. That is where a lot of talent, some pharmaceutical help and a decade-plus in pinstripes have gotten Rodriguez, who did help win a title six years ago.

“I love our fans,” he said after the game. “We have a long history here. I think about 2009 and some of the things we accomplished together. I think this is an opportunity to help the team win.”

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Luis Melo, who attended the Yankees' opener, had pins from four opening days.CreditChang W. Lee/The New York Times

That is all the fans want. They might like him, they might not. Either way, they root for the team. Rodriguez’s contract seems endless, but the fans always outlast the players. For all his transgressions, Rodriguez was almost certain to receive the support he got on Monday.

“We live in a society that gives people second and third chances — fourth, fifth,” Girardi said. “Look, as humans we’re going to make mistakes. That’s the bottom line, we’ve all made mistakes.”

Part of Rodriguez’s infamy is that few have made mistakes in such audacious style: using steroids, apologizing, asking “the American people” to judge him from that day forward, then cheating again. That track record makes it impossible to really trust Rodriguez, who said he did not know if he deserved the cheers he got.

“It definitely felt good, that’s for sure,” Rodriguez said. “I have a lot of love for the city of New York, especially our fans. But let’s make it clear: The fans don’t owe me anything. I’ve said all along, since spring training, part of feeling like a rookie is that I have to earn their cheers and their respect.”

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West Point cadets unfurled a flag before the Yankees' opener.CreditRuth Fremson/The New York Times

Rodriguez has tried on so many public masks that you never know what is real. But give him this: His current advisers are keeping him on message. Rodriguez’s trademark self-indulgence, for now, is buried beneath a chipper, cooperative exterior. He just wants to be one of the guys and earn his keep.

Rodriguez batted .267 with three homers in spring training. He is back at his Yankee Stadium corner locker, the one with the built-in fire alarm (really), and concentrating, it seems, on baseball. There is no real blueprint for what to expect, but the Yankees really could use a productive designated hitter.

“He played well all spring,” said Chase Headley, who plays Rodriguez’s former position, third base. “He’s a big part of this.”

The Yankees finished 13th of 15 American League teams in runs scored last season, and Rodriguez and Didi Gregorius are the newcomers to the lineup. Rodriguez’s return went a lot better than Gregorius’s debut as Derek Jeter’s replacement.

Gregorius went 0 for 2 and inexplicably tried to steal third with two on and two outs in the eighth inning, down by five runs, with the cleanup hitter at the plate. Gregorius said that with the Blue Jays in a shift, he thought he could make it.

“It will never happen again,” Gregorius said. “It was a bad mistake.”

The Yankees made others on Monday, like the bunt Headley threw away and the location on some of Tanaka’s pitches. Yet Rodriguez, whose spectacular slip-ups have helped make him the most compelling character on a largely faceless team, did not make any.

A version of this article appears in print on , on Page B13 of the New York edition with the headline: Rodriguez Is Designated as Yanks’ Attention-Getter. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe